


Internal and External Recruitment

by Nevanna



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Manipulation, Memory Alteration, Mind Control, Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, Other, Power Dynamics, predatory behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22854796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: Eliassupernaturally enthrallsbuilds a new archival team.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 172
Collections: The_Magnusquerade





	Internal and External Recruitment

As Elias beckoned Jon into his office, he could hear Jon’s heartbeat speed up in nervous anticipation, even before he Saw the thoughts and emotions behind it. 

Whether or not Jon subconsciously recalled some of their past meetings, he also radiated the completely mundane unease that tended to arise in the presence of an authority figure whom he still wanted to impress. While he replied calmly to polite, encouraging inquiries about his latest research project, his mind remained on high alert, unclenching just a fraction when Elias finally said, “Now, as to my reason for wanting to speak with you today...” 

“I’m listening.” Jon still tried to sound as neutral as possible, as he did when he wasn’t sure whether to take a colleague’s theories seriously or (as was more often the case) offer a blistering dismissal.

“Ms. Robinson’s sudden passing left us without anybody to look after our Archives,” Elias went on, “and I believe that you will be a more than fitting successor.” A frown creased Jon’s face. “I take it that was an unexpected offer, but not, I hope, an unwelcome one.” 

“I can’t say that I’ve considered such a role,” Jon admitted. “Or trained for it…”

“Part of _my_ role is to see the potential in my employees, even if they don’t recognize it in themselves,” Elias told him. “You have an unstoppable thirst for answers, and a keen organizational mind.” That mind was already sparking with curiosity and shimmering with latent psychic power, and Elias imagined it flexing and stretching and reshaping itself, fed by statement after statement, to eventually hold a repository of human and supernatural knowledge that could not be contained by boxes or walls. “And you shouldn’t underestimate the value of learning on the job.”

“You’re speaking as if I’ve already said yes,” Jon pointed out.

“Is there any reason why you might say no?”

“No.” Blood heated Jon’s ears. “Which is to say, _yes_ , I’ll take it.”

“Excellent.” Elias opened one of his desk drawers. As he withdrew the necessary paperwork, his fingers brushed the silver knife that he always kept close at hand during these meetings. “Read this through - it outlines some of your initial responsibilities, your increase in salary, and so forth - and sign at the bottom.”

Jon did so, and when Elias rose from his chair, he took that as his cue to do the same.

“You will be an invaluable resource to the Institute.” Elias moved forward as if to shake Jon’s hand, but took him by the shoulders instead, displaying a fanged smile. “And to me. Be still and quiet, now.”

Jon’s mixture of horror and fascination, as the puzzle pieces clicked together in his head, was always delicious. His blood, when Elias’ mouth found the veins in his neck, was even sweeter. The flood of venom and psychic force from the bite left Jon pliant and content and swaying beautifully on his feet.

Satisfied, Elias removed the knife from his drawer and advanced upon Jon again, easily enfolding and massaging his consciousness. “When you leave this room, you’ll remember accepting your new position, and nothing more. It’s a shame that I must conceal the truth from you, for now, but I’ll make it up to you someday. When you’re ready, I promise you access to all the knowledge that you could ever desire.” He opened a tiny cut in his wrist and held it out to his Archivist’s unresisting mouth. “Now, drink, and become _mine_.” And Jon obeyed.

(He would recover his memories soon after he reawakened as a vampire, in waves of knowledge long denied him.)

\---

Before Jon, Elias hadn’t taken a human thrall in many, _many_ years. The intertwining of their minds hadn’t been unpleasant - far from it, in fact - but he’d forgotten how _overwhelming_ the process could be, for both parties. Hopefully, he would be able to maintain his equilibrium throughout his next meeting.

“There’s no need to fidget, Martin,” Elias said crisply, as the young man stopped fussing with his cuffs long enough to reach up and rub his neck (a familiar habit amongst long-standing employees). He couldn’t resist adding, “I don’t bite.” 

Did Martin frown for just a little too long at those words, before giving an obliging chuckle and folding his hands in his lap? “I wasn’t worried.”

“I’ve recently appointed a new Head Archivist,” Elias continued. “I believe that you know Jonathan Sims?” Martin’s eyes brightened as he nodded. “I’m offering you - along with one or two of your colleagues - the opportunity to assist him in his new responsibilities.”

“I’d like that,” Martin said immediately, even as questions like _Did he ask for me?_ fluttered through his thoughts.

Elias raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even want to know what the position will entail?”

Martin composed himself once more. “What can you tell me?”

“I expect that, like the previous archival team, you’ll be helping to follow up on unresolved investigations,” Elias said truthfully. “You’ll do your share of filing, but there might be some field work involved; from what I’ve observed, Jonathan likes to be thorough.” He watched the next question form, then retreat, behind Martin’s eyes - _What_ happened _to the previous team?_ \- and pressed on. “And for that, he would rely upon a resourceful staff who won’t back away from challenges.” Whatever might (or might not) lie beneath the unassuming sweetness that Martin projected, he _had_ pieced together a few of the Institute’s own secrets through sheer stubbornness, although he had no recollection of his discoveries. 

Martin’s lips silently formed the words, “rely upon.” By the time he signed his contract, the blood was warming his skin due to embarrassed, half-disbelieving pride instead of nervousness.

Until Elias said, “We’re not quite finished.”

This time, he was ready for the rush of connection as Martin drank from his wrist, and although some of those buried memories rose to the surface of his newest thrall’s mind, they barely caused a ripple in the waves of blissful belonging, and vanished as quickly as they emerged. “You clever thing,” Elias murmured, running his free hand over Martin’s hair. “You’ll do so well for Jon, won’t you?” That all-too-human devotion would make the eventual transfer of power much easier. “And I’ll take care of you until he’s ready to claim you as his own.”

(Martin would recover his memories under Jon’s careful, gentle Sight, and even when they made him flinch, he wouldn’t tell Jon to stop looking.)

\---

“I’m not afraid of you,” Sasha whispered.

“You are,” Elias contradicted her. “For all that you _might_ fool someone with human senses into believing otherwise.” Her pulse was racing, even as her eyes met his; she didn’t flinch from their red glow. Her defiance wasn’t nearly as delightful as Jon’s response had been, but although Elias had instructed her not to run, he hadn’t silenced her yet.

Perhaps she'd crafted that unruffled facade while handling eerie dolls and prescient typewriters and archaic surgical tools in Artifact Storage. The Archives - and, at their center, the Archivist in his burgeoning glory - would benefit from someone who could maintain an air of calm, whether or not she actually felt it.

“Someone will figure it out,” she insisted. “I don’t care how impressive you think you are: you hired us to look into things that can’t be explained, and give them names, and you’re just one more monster that we-”

“My dear, I’ve spent the past two centuries making sure that nobody finds out anything that I don’t want them to. Haven’t you, yourself, provided your share of ‘rational’ explanations?” Elias brushed back a lock of her hair, leaning forward to murmur in her ear. “Now, _hush_. And when we’re done here, I think I’ll send you to fetch Tim for me.” As he anticipated, her thoughts spiked with, _Please don’t hurt him_ , before they softened and drifted away. She lapped at his blood without so much as a frown.

If Sasha tried his patience the next time he met with her (he would need to repeat this process regularly with each of the archival staff, and perhaps drink from them in return), Elias could easily pull forth her memory of summoning his next victim.

(Sasha would never recover her memories in full, but when she realized the true nature of her pursuer and killer, she would not be surprised.)

\---

“So, that’ll make Jon my boss, yeah?” Tim asked, slouching in his chair and folding his arms.

Elias nodded. “Do you think that you’ll have a problem submitting to his authority?” 

A salacious reply uncurled behind Tim’s smirk, but he only replied, “We get on well enough.”

Tim got on well enough with most people. An encounter with the Stranger clan would certainly have accounted for a chameleonic personality, but it was more likely born of ordinary human charisma. “He requested you as an assistant because he respects your research skills,” Elias told him. “And I would imagine that the Archives hold stores of knowledge that even you have yet to uncover.” Knowledge that, for instance, might entice a man who had started working as a paranormal researcher as part of a quest for vengeance. 

Tim straightened in his seat. “Sign me up, then.” He winked and cocked his fingers in an absurd gesture that some of his colleagues found unceasingly charming. “If I can’t liven up that creepy old basement, nobody can.” 

“I’m certain that you will bring your own unique vitality to the department,” Elias said. “And, when the time is right, I’ll make sure you remember that _you chose this_.” 

Tim’s grin faded. “Say, what?”

If horrified awe had sweetened Jon’s blood, then Tim’s was seasoned by _fury_ . It sharpened as Elias deliberately tugged free a few dormant memories, of one-on-one meetings not unlike this one, cutting through Tim’s pleasurable daze to remind him of _exactly_ what he served. If all went as planned, further down the line, he would _want_ to submit to Jon, and probably hate himself for wanting it.

Elias ran his tongue over the punctures on Tim’s neck, to speed up the healing process, then stepped back to say, “Your turn.” The knife flashed, and he held out his wrist for Tim to drink. “If only your brother could see how completely you are _ours_.”

(Tim would regain his memories with a storm of angry swearing, and after he was turned and started to feed on humans, it would take him a long time to stop feeling sick whenever he meddled with their minds.)

\---

Although she would clearly have preferred to stay on her feet for their entire interview, poised to lash out for reasons that even she couldn’t explain, Melanie King perched reluctantly on a chair. She relaxed incrementally as Elias smiled at her across his desk and named the episodes of _Ghost Hunt UK_ that had caught his attention (he could also identify the vampire clans responsible for some of them), and as they discussed her crew’s research methods. “And how has that prepared you for a career with us at the Magnus Institute?” Elias asked her.

Melanie considered this. “Well, I already know plenty of local folklore, and I’m not afraid to dig as deep as I can for answers.” 

“I imagine that you’re not,” Elias agreed. Although she wasn’t aware that her recent injury had any supernatural side effects, he had smelled the Slaughter’s influence as soon as she introduced herself. Given time, it would flower into something very like the bloodlust that seized fledgling vampires, a state that that Jon - now adjusting to his new existence, not far away - understood all too well. 

For someone who couldn’t entirely ignore such a call, and who hadn’t prepared in advance for a job interview, Melanie was able to coherently answer the next round of questions, about her ability to work as part of a team and under pressure. “Do _you_ have any questions so far?” Elias asked at length. 

“I heard… that is, I _noticed…_ ” Melanie was thinking about Martin’s less-than-subtle attempts to warn her away, but she still retained enough self-control not to say so aloud. “...That there’ve been a few disappearances around here lately. Maybe even deaths. Is that... _normal_ for a research organization?”

She’d gotten scraps of the story from Martin, who couldn’t seem to stop fretting about Jon despite the compulsion to trust anything Elias told him. Despite those uneasy moments, he and Tim - and Sasha, before she was regrettably dispatched and replaced - hadn’t been particularly troublesome thralls. Still, Elias had never intended to keep them forever. The Section 31 officers would find his Archivist soon enough, and the next phase of their project could begin.

Sasha’s name had also flashed through Melanie’s thoughts. Elias probed a little bit deeper, intrigued by the possibility that she had somehow seen through the impostor’s illusions. “The department is indeed in a transitional phase, but I can promise that it is temporary, and that I am _always_ attentive to the safety of my employees.” He let a hint of frost creep into his voice. “I hope that you’re not always so quick to believe office gossip, or jump to the conclusion that it concerns you.” 

“Well, maybe I don’t want to be the next one to disappear!” Melanie snapped, the Slaughter flaring suddenly in her blood. “Why the hell _shouldn’t_ that concern me?” She froze and covered her mouth, remembering where she was and whom she was talking to. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, rising to her feet. “I’ll show myself out.”

“And why would you do that?” Elias inquired.

“Because I shouted at my future employer?” His response had plainly disoriented her. “I think that means we’re done here. Doesn’t it?”

“Allow me to decide that,” Elias said gently. He barely needed to nudge her psychically; her bewilderment and relief carried her back to her seat. 

Once she had tasted his blood, her instinct to obey her master would override her most violent impulses, at least for a time. And Jon, in his turn, would have full use of her as either an effective weapon or a test of his own abilities, if he decided to reach inside her and suppress her urge to tear and crush and destroy.

For his next move, Elias thought that he might enjoy letting her fight back, up to a point. He had yet to grow tired of watching the devastation of his prey as they comprehended who was _really_ in control.

(Melanie would revisit her memories only in nightmares, at first, leaving her with a rage that fed the Slaughter until she was almost beyond help. Elias didn’t entirely expect her to ask for that help, but even he couldn’t see or plan for everything.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Mx_Carter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mx_Carter) for his excellent beta read, and to all my friends on Discord who provided ideas (especially about Sasha) and encouragement.


End file.
